This question was put to me the other day: What do artists do? And, of course, this could be answered in many different ways. In fact there are likely as many answers as there are artists. We are all individuals, after all.
But I believe there are similarities, too. Generally speaking, many of us are iconoclasts—rebels at the very least. We’re not overly good at minding the status quo. Most of us are built just a little bit differently than the general population—I’ve often said our brains are wired differently. As a result, we don’t always “fit.” Most of us HAVE to create. It’s not an option. We sacrifice for our art because of it.
But back to the question. On this particular day my friend and fellow artist, Craig Scogin, has come by the gallery to shoot some of my newer paintings for me. He’s a photographer (see previous post Not Really New… Not Really Mexico) who shows his work in our Anna Karin Gallery. He also does us the great service of sitting the gallery three days a week so that Anna and I can paint. Some of you might meet him when you come up to Truchas.
So he was here and I had the question in the back of my mind, which got me to thinking about what we artists do up here in Truchas. And it occurred to me that many of us work to support each other, in one way or another. It’s common. Look at all the signs and the beautiful planters Bill Loyd has made for Anna and me (see previous post Anna Karin Gallery, Truchas, NM: New Planters!). Or the fine wooden pieces Isabro Ortega made for our windows (see previous post How to Spice Up your Windows).
And here was Craig, on his day off, at the gallery shooting some paintings for me. Because I needed it.
Despite the stereotype we often hear about fierce competition between artists, a kind of back-biting I’m-gonna-get-mine-because-there-isn’t-enough-to-go-around mentality, my experience has been different than that. In my world artists support each other. We know there is enough for all—that success breeds success. If one of us up here on the High Road draws collectors, that will only mean more exposure for all of us, and it will likely draw more collectors.
We know how important it is for all of us to make art; and how hard that can be sometimes. So we are there for each other. We offer moral support on those days when being an artist seems like the craziest thing in the world to be doing. When the dream is looking more like a nightmare. We cook, we share meals, we talk, we joke and play, we drink. And when it all comes together, we help each other continue on the path—no small feat some days.
So to answer the question: What do artists do? We help each other continue to be artists and, maybe along the way, we inspire those of you who aren’t yet making art, to begin.
Love to you all,
Jeane
Beautifully stated.
Thanks Annie. I love how it works for us up here on the High Road. A real blessing.
It sounds like you are family…what family is truly meant to be:) I am so happy for you all to have each other.
When my sister Pat and I were at an Antique auction house in Seattle yesterday the subject of a working artist’s drive to create came up. I talked of what I knew of the subject relating the drive and passion you have. (Working artists are a special breed of people I believe as you say. If they were all like you, I would say they are passionately driven with high standards and stubbornly goal oriented as well) We were discussing some original art that was for sale and she said she did not have the drive to create paintings or the pastels pieces that she made in earlier years . She is a wonderfully gifted artist, and she does create. She is a very witty quilter and also makes jewelry from found antique pendants from around the world and gem stone beads, as well as making her own beads etc. But she does not have what she imagines a daily working artist has as drive to create. She is involved in her local Vashon Island Gallery support system of volunteers and is very much a collector of art along with her husband:)
I appreciate your being of drive and need to express…it is inspiring and a glorious expression of the best of humanity:)
XOXOX
Thank you, Grace. You always, always see the best in me which I so appreciate. I sometimes wonder if I had all the money I needed to live, would continue to create? I like to think so. Part of the drive is to simply earn a living. But that deep, deep need to create, that stirred in me during all the corporate years and finally made its demands on me, does seem to be vital and real in me.
Jeane, i so agree with your thought that success breeds success – none of us operate in a vacuum and we rest on the shoulders of giants. i’m currently evolving a new group of “faces” and doing a lot of looking at the paintings of Frida Khalo, Klimpt, Seraphine of Senlis as well as looking at photographic portraits of the Omo people in Ethiopia – an eclectic mix..a sense of synergy and the sharing of “intellectual property” almost always leads to discovery in my experience, while holding tight in isolation is fear-based and blocks creativity. i wrote a little blurb/quote on my home page which i hope is generous – like you i feel a deep compulsion to make things – to paint and to write – and i like to think it makes a difference in some way. here’s something a friend said about my work a couple of days a go: “what a great contribution to humanity” – affirmation of oneself and of each other..always a good idea. thanks for your thoughtful words and always the gorgeous photos – they are an inspiration in more ways than you know. janice
Thank you Janice. I think the simple and pure act of creation absolutely makes a difference. I believe we put that incredible creative energy back into the universe when we make art. We feed each other just by doing it, I think. Then there is the sharing of the finished pieces, as you say, inspiring something new in another. The gift of art is multi-faceted–endless.
and is it through it’s incredible internal energy made manifest that great art communicates its profound message – if only we take the time to see? i like your thought of the cyclical nature of art as energy very much and will contemplate on that ~
Yes, that’s exactly what I believe. The power in a piece of art is directly related to the power the artist experiences in the making of it.
it’s very compelling isn’t it, all that volcanic energy pushing and surging beneath the surface and wanting to be released and made into form – and a good exercise (and therapeutic) to put any negative or stressful energy into something creative and worthy that can be shared positively in the world? .. and here’s the blurb i wrote on my web page – hope it’s worth a smile and my thanks for allowing me to share ~
“We make pictures because we are painters; we have no choice. We sculpt
with clay to feel between our fingers the raw material of the earth from
which we are originated. Writing is a quest to make sense of the world
and to understand our place in it. We dance to experience the ecstasy of
being alive. Art helps us to know there is beauty in a commodity-driven
existence, to touch the freedom of a geography without borders and a
landscape without maps. It is a way of life.”
Yes life itself, of course, is very compelling. Add art into the mix and that is where magic is born. Thank you for your lovely thoughts. I’ve posted them onto the HRA facebook page so others can enjoy them.
“Viva la vida, viva el arte!”
Yes indeed!
Such beautiful energy up there among all of you!
There truly is. So glad you’re close enough to us to come share in it from time to time.
We help each other continue to be artists ….. I like that. The blog world has provided an art tribe that has changed my life. I love the paintings in this post.
I think that’s what sees us through the night sometimes–just knowing other artists are there for us.
So happy you love the paintings. Thanks!